Feds give sea otters habitat protection in Alaska

By MARY PEMBERTON , Associated Press Writer

(AP) -- Four years after being placed on the Endangered Species List, the dwindling sea otters of southwest Alaska on Wednesday were given an important recovery tool.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated nearly 5,900 square miles as critical habitat for sea otters in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and Alaska Peninsula. The designated area includes all nearshore waters.

"Critical habitat has a proven record of aiding the recovery of endangered species," said Rebecca Noblin, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed two lawsuits and engaged in years of litigation to get the animals protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The otters in southwest Alaska were listed as threatened in 2005.

"This has been a long time coming," she said.

Critical habitat gives the sea otters - the smallest of marine mammals - a "fighting chance of recovery," she said.

Nearshore areas were chosen because most of the creatures that sea otters eat - sea urchins, crabs, octopuses and some bottom fish - are found in shallow waters. Areas close to shore also provide the best protection from marine predators, especially killer whales, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Federal law requires that critical habitat be designated at the time of listing. But when that didn't happen under the Bush administration, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a federal lawsuit in 2006. The following year an agreement was reached that critical habitat would be designated by this October. …

Feds give sea otters habitat protection in Alaska

Technorati Tags: mammal decline,endangered species

Kenya seizes massive ivory haul

Kenyan authorities have seized almost 700kg of ivory worth millions of dollars in a night-time raid at the country's main airport.

The Kenya Wildlife Service says a similar amount was intercepted in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Both consignments - with a potential value of more than $1.5m (£938,000) - were reportedly headed for Thailand.

The BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi says poaching is on the increase mostly owing to high demand for ivory in Asia.

Our reporter says it is not yet clear whether the ivory, recovered at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport, had been trafficked from other parts of the continent or was from East Africa.

Twenty years ago the world's elephant population was plummeting and the trade in ivory was banned.

But over the past decade the ban has been periodically relaxed and occasional supervised ivory auctions have been allowed.

Officials say the sales have fuelled demand for ivory in Asian countries, especially China, contributing to a sharp increase in elephant poaching.

So far this year poachers in Kenya have killed 128 elephants for their ivory; last year 98 were killed. …

Kenya seizes massive ivory haul

Technorati Tags: poaching,mammal decline

Japanese town in 'The Cove' setting dolphins free

By YURI KAGEYAMA (AP) – 10 hours ago

TOKYO — The Japanese town chronicled in the award-winning film "The Cove" for its annual dolphin hunt that turns coastal waters red with blood has suspended killing the animals — at least for this week's catch — following an international outcry.

The western Japanese town of Taiji will sell some of the animals to aquariums as it does every year, but the remainder of the 100 bottlenose dolphins that were caught early Wednesday in the first catch of the season are to be released. In the past, they were killed and sold for meat.

An official at the Taiji fisheries association, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the town abhors the publicity its dolphin-killing has drawn, said Thursday that the decision was made partly in response to the international outcry created by "The Cove."

He said about 50 of the dolphins will be hand-picked for aquariums and the rest will be set free, although a time for that has not been set. In Wednesday's hunt, the fishermen also caught 50 pilot whales, which were slain and sold as meat, he said.

He said it was unclear whether the town would stop killing dolphins. He said residents wanted to avoid trouble, but did not want to cave in to activists and give up what they see as a tradition.

Ric O'Barry, 69, the star of "The Cove" and dolphin trainer for the 1960s "Flipper" TV series, welcomed the news, saying it was a sign that overseas pressure had worked and expressing hope that the town would now institute a "no-slaughter policy."

"I am elated," O'Barry, who was in Tokyo, told The Associated Press. "When I heard that, I did a backflip off the bed here." …

Japanese town in 'The Cove' setting dolphins free

Technorati Tags: marine mammal,mammal decline

Today is a good day for dolphins!

Editor’s Note: This piece was written by guest contributor Richard O’Barry of the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition.

As TakePart reported earlier this week, O’Barry is currently in Taiji, Japan with European and Japanese journalists in anticipation of the annual dolphin slaughter that usually takes place the first week of September.

Today is September 1st, the first day of the dolphin slaughter season in Japan. But when I arrived today by bus from Kansai Airport with media representatives from all over the world, the notorious Cove from the movie was empty. There were no dolphin killers in sight. So today is a very good day for dolphins!

I vowed to be back in Taiji when the dolphin killing began. I’ve often been here alone, or accompanied by a few environmentalists. Sometimes, I was able to talk a major media organization into sending someone.

But the people of Japan never learned about the dolphin slaughter, because none of the media in Japan (with the exception of the excellent Japan Times) have ever sent reporters to the killing Cove. Until today!

When I got off the bus at the Cove this afternoon, I was accompanied by my son Lincoln O’Barry’s film crew, a crew from Associated Press, Der Spiegel (the largest magazine in Germany), and the London Independent.

No dolphins and no dolphin killers. We would not have had a story at all, except for the police who were there, waiting all day for us to appear. Nine policemen came to talk to us.

Now, I have said this repeatedly: Unlike the Cove fishermen, the police from this Prefecture have always acted professionally, courteously, and fairly. I have never been mistreated or threatened by the police here. I think they are a microcosm of the people of Japan–the very people I am trying to reach about the dolphins!

And as I was talking with the police, as the international journalists stood around listening, suddenly a camera crew arrived from Japan! And then another! And then still another!

You have to understand that this is SO IMPORTANT. These TV stations have REFUSED to cover the story in Taiji for years and years. NOW, for the first time, they have shown up, with cameras rolling. The head policeman talking with me even said, for the cameras, that the police are not there to support the dolphin killing fishermen. We shook hands, and they left.

As I said, it is a good day for the dolphins. And for me personally, as the police only wanted to talk with me, not arrest me! ...

Urgent Update from Taiji: September 1, 2009, A Good Day for Dolphins

Critically endangered Buena Vista Lake Ornate Shrew granted a reprieve from extinction

 

Bakersfield, Calif.- As a result of a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed Thursday to review and redesignate habitat that is critical for the survival and recovery of the one of the most endangered mammals on the planet - the Buena Vista Lake ornate shrew.

The agency had, under the Bush administration, proposed only 4,649 acres of critical habitat for the shrew in 2004, which it further slashed to a meager and unsustainable 84 acres in 2005. This move was typical of the administration, which adamantly opposed protecting species under the Endangered Species Act. Indeed, the administration protected only 62 species in eight years, compared to 522 species protected under the Clinton administration. 

Thursday's settlement requires that the agency repropose the 4,649 acres within the next 90 days and issue a final designation of the critical habitat on or before March 22, 2012. Until that date, the current designation of 84 acres remains in place.

"This settlement is an important victory for the Buena Vista Lake ornate shrew and California's invaluable wetlands in the arid San Joaquin Valley," said Ileene Anderson, ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "The agreement requires that the agency that is supposed to be protecting this rare mammal take a hard look at what is needed — not only to keep this unique animal from extinction, but to increase the population to levels that ensure its survival." …

Critically Endangered Buena Vista Lake Ornate Shrew Granted a Reprieve From Extinction

Technorati Tags: extinction,mammal decline,endangered species